Durham Report Executive Summary
| Tracking # |
FOIA-2021-01633 |
| Submitted | June 23, 2021 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Carlos Gamez
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
A copy of the Durham's Report Executive Summary that was provided to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) by letter dated May 07, 2018 from the Office of the Assistant Attorney General and enclosed as a copy to this request.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Carlos Gamez
From: Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General
Attached is correspondence from the Department of Justice's Office of Information Policy, which is associated with the above-referenced Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Please do not reply to this e-mail, as this account is not monitored.
Thank you,
-----------------------------------------
Initial Request Staff
Office of Information Policy
U.S. Department of Justice
202-514-3642 (Main Line)
From: Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General
Carlos Gamez,
I received your voicemail asking for a status of your request for a copy of the Durham Report Executive Summary. Please be advised that another request for this same information is now the subject of litigation. We are unable to respond to your request while this matter is being litigated. We will contact you again once the litigation in this matter allows.
Thank you,
Eric Hotchkiss
Senior Government Information Specialist
Office of Information Policy
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 1, 2021. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #FOIA-2021-01633.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General
Attached is correspondence from the Department of Justice's Office of Information Policy, which is associated with the above-referenced Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Please do not reply to this e-mail, as this account is not monitored.
Thank you,
-----------------------------------------
Initial Request Staff
Office of Information Policy
U.S. Department of Justice
202-514-3642 (Main Line)
202-514-1009 (Fax)
From: Carlos Gamez
I hereby appeal the decision to fully withhold the document requested under Exemption 5. Here, the statement is made that the document is still the subject of litigation. The courts have found that only those documents that would be privileged in the civil discovery context, without the agency making clear under which context the litigation is occurring. The document requested is the executive report provided to the SSCI in the summer of 2018, being that an executive summary typically stipulates the facts of what is being investigated. The attorney-client privilege refers to legal advice that is provided between agency lawyers and the respective agency. Also, there is a loss of confidentiality due to the executive summary being provided to Congress, which is notably not classified as an agency under FOIA law and existing DOJ regulations; furthermore, this does not allow for the inter-agency or intra-agency threshold to be met. The Supreme Court has held, and such is the standing legal principle, that the document in question would routinely be disclosed in the purview of civil litigation. The classification of the executive summary is noted as being TOP SECRET and the limitations provided to who could see it in Congress demonstrates the privileged nature. Lastly, the deliberative process privilege does not apply due to the executive summary not affecting any decisions, and recounting actions that have occurred in the past.
In any case in which there can be withholding of information in the document, it is necessary to have a presumption of openness and that all segregable sections be separated from other sections that are withheld.
